USSC Patterns

[AZReenactor]

Justin,
Good point. One of the things that attracted me to these patterns is exactly that. These were patterns for US homemade goods and could indeed vary considerably in actual construction according to the skill and means of the who is making the donations. The fact that they are Northern efforts means that there is no blockade or lack of infrastructure limiting the available resources for their construction either. As such it seemed an especially good candidate for first time sewing efforts.

[USSanCom]

Haven't posted for awhile, so I had to re-up to get in.

I don't have the issue number for the bulletin, but this is the pattern and these are the directions for it. I was sent this by Susan Hughes many years ago when we had it posted on Jan Romanovich's San Com site. (my ex for those who don't know me) I have all the bulletins and documents on microfiche, but don't have access to a reader right now to get the bulletin number.

Directions for Making Wrapper

The circular side of the collar is to be sewed into the neck. The straight side turns over. In sewing in the sleeve the seam must be placed in the middle of the arm size behind, as per dot, in diagram. The pocket is to be felled on the inside. There are to be four buttons on the front. This wrapper may be made of any cotton or woolen material, doubled. It will take from 9 to 10 yards of any cloth, of calico width.
With a little ingenuity, old pieces may be made to go a great way, by piecing the lining, and making collar, and facings for the sleeves and fronts, of different stuff from the outside.



Duchess Martin,
U.S. Sanitary Commission,
Columbus, O. Branch.

[Pvt Peck]

Troy:
Cool to see you utilizing these pattterns. I ran across the USSC books on Google books awhile ago during a random search. Take the time to read through the bulletins in the bound volumes of the USSC papers and there is a lot of good info on how stuff was shipped etc... Lots of neat letters that describe things like getting socks out of barrles with notes in them saying things like "these socks knitted by a 94 year old lady" etc.. The neat thing with the Google Books site is you can search a particular book using key words. Looking forward to seeing the resuts of your work on the shirts and drawers, want to sell any of those ration bags?

Ted Parrott

[AZReenactor]

Duchess,
Thank you for this additional pattern. I'll have to give it a try once I get caught up on some of my other sewing projects

Ted, sent you a PM.

[mboyce]

The Sanitary Commission Bulletin. October 15, 1864, Vol. 1, No. 24. page 760

That sounds like a pretty hefty housewife. DO most people have that much in theirs? I have more than most people I know, when it comes to buttons, needles and thread, but I don't have any yarn.

[AZReenactor]

Marvin,
Keep in mind that this comfort bags weren't for a mere weekend getaway but for weeks and months of living in the field. When you look at it in those terms then 6 needles, 2 lengths of thread, 6 shirt buttons, 6 trouser buttons, yarn, a darning needle, and a few pins really isn't all that much.

I suspect that most reenactors don't carry the yarn or darning needle simply because they have no idea how to darn but if you wear the same pair of socks daily for a couple of weeks of marching daily then doubtlessly darning would be an absolute necessity.

[celtfiddler]

I'll be trying my hand at putting together some of the items this spring and was curious if anyone had any insights or experience with interpreting these particular patterns, knew of any extant originals of USSC clothing, were aware of any vendors reproducing these items, etc.

Not aware of any vendors, but I believe the US Civil War Medicine museum in Frederick MD has a piece on display (it's been a bit since I've gotten up there). You might want to try getting in touch with them--they're very helpful.

Thanks for sharing your find. Depending on the situation this season, I may attempt hand sewing some of the items at events this year.

[KarinTimour]

I'm really enjoying this thread, that you everyone for your contributions. I'd also like to add a few thoughts -- first of all, about the "yarn and darning needle" and how much space that would take in your housewife. In modern times, when we think of "yarn" we're thinking of what is known in knitting circles as "worsted weight" yarn. The stuff used to make your home knit sweater or scarf. When you lay a pieceof this on the table it's about the same diameter as the cord for your Ipod or walkman. That's not what they are talking about.

Period socks and stockings were knit out of much thinner yarn, and that is what they would have been sending for darning purposes. To get an idea, take a piece of sewing thread, and cut four or five lpieces three inches long. Stack them on top of each other into a little bundle (like a bundle of twigs, only made of thread in this case). Twist the ends in opposite directions. This is much more along the lines of what they meant when they were talking about darning yarn for socks. Enough of this stuff for ten ordinary sized (half-dollar sized) holes will be about the size of a large "shooter" marble. I suspect they were sending balls of yarn that were about the size of golf balls. Hard to say how long that would last, since there are so many complaints about holes in socks. I've read comments on socks getting holes after a day or two of wear -- another reason that many of them were writing home for home made socks. I strongly suspect that most soldiers were working on their socks on almost a daily basis, especially when they were campaigning. If you're darning almost daily, and you're watching the guys around you who are better at darning, I bet most soldiers got to be pretty good at cobbling together a perhaps unsightly but servicable darn.

USSC Sock pattern
For those of you who are interested in having the "total" USSC package, they printed a sock pattern, and I was asked by the Atlantic Guard Soldier's Aid Society to make a "translation" of the 19th century knitting directions. You can find the original pattern, the translation and some thoughts on sources for needles and appropriate yarn on our website: www.AGSAS.org

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[PFLINT]

Attached is an image I found of a soldier recovering at a hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. He's wearing an example of a wrapper; many others in the larger, unaltered image are wearing wrappers of similar design but of other cloth.

Brian,
I've done a quick check of the LoC image site and came up with nothing. Could you point me to the original image?
Patrick Flint

[AZReenactor]

Well for my holiday this year I finally got around to working on some of these USSC patterns. I made up a few sheets of enameled cloth over thanksgiving. It came out fair, but I want to work at it some more to see how pliable I can get it without the factory set up.

Over Christmas eve and Christmas day I cut out a couple dozen of the bags and got them all stitched up. I was lucky recently and found a nice size roll of 1" wide cotton twill tape (and 21 yards of actual cotton canton flannel ) at a local fabric by the pound" store for a decent price which bound the top edge quite nicely. I ended up with a remnant that was too small to make ration bags from so I made a couple smaller bags that I'm going to try lining and use as a tobacco bag or just use them as a smaller size ration bag for small stores.

Yesterday and today I sized up the pattern and cut out some of the canton flannel into a pair of drawers and shirt. Hopefully I'll have time on New Years day and the weekend to get them stitched up so I can see how the come out. First event for me of the new year (Camp Roberts Tactical in CA) is less than four weeks away. After that things get busy with only two free weekends between there and IPW. Should be a good year.

Anyone else tried these patterns? I'd love to see your results.